First impressions – BRZ

First impressions on my new car? The clutch is so soft …. as i pulled out of the dealer. Also, hmmm this car is pretty slowish. Even though i was running in the car, i could tell that it wasn’t a torquey car. Thirdly though, wow manual again after how many years without? So fun just to be shifting and clutching. Overall it felt ok. Ok and cheap. Spoilt with the interior of the Audi, the plastics on the switches left me rather unimpressed. I didn’t really need to be though as i knew the aim of the car is completely different and so is the price point. Still, the position is absolutely perfect. Telescopic reach on the steering wheel combined with perfect pedal positioning meant that anyone interested in driving will find this a nice place to be in. You feel like you are in the car rather than sitting in a bus. I got in my friends Fiesta ST and first thing i thought was BUS. The position was so upright compared to the BRZ.

So the next day after acquiring the car, i drove through RNP. I haven’t driven through this place in probably 2 years (i normally ride through more now) but over the next few weeks i probably drove the car through it 5-6 times. I just wanted to kinda get a feel for the new car and that seemed like the only accessible place. I never drove it hard as the car was still breaking in but i didn’t baby it excessively either. Giving plenty of revs here and there and generally got a good feel for the car.

The BRZ definitely cornered well. To me i realised that they were able to use relatively softer damper/springs as the centre of gravity on the cars are so low anyways. What this means is they would get a car which didn’t roll excessively in corners and handled bumps very well. In fact, the BRZ handled bumps SOOO well my wife was pleasantly surprised that it was quite comfortable. The previous car she sat in was Kev’s S15 which i purchased and that scared her with the roughness and just the overall nature of the car. The BRZ she warmed up to quickly though as she found it comfortable, smooth and “not dangerous”.

It was so good that i changed my plan’s slightly on the BRZ. I almost did not want to mod it to ruin that perfect usability for everyday driving and to this date i am still very hesitant. I drove the car everyday and to everywhere and generally wanted to USE the car day in day out. I purposely went to pickup furniture in the car just so i can use it for stuff that it wasn’t meant to do (which it handled with aplomb). That was one of the best qualities of the car. I also found the car super approachable from day one performance wise. You feel like you have driven the car for ages and you are keen to try out almost everything. So approachable was the car that i had to refrain from clutch kicking the car in the middle of corners through RNP on my 2nd day out. Coming out of corners on a wet day remains a hard task with self control needed to not try and get sideways.

GOOD:

1. Very accessible performance in a approachable manner

2. Perfectly focused on the driver with all the little things

3. Very dailyable and useable (carried furniture, bikes, drive into any driveway)